WB Announces Easter Parade & The Band Wagon SE's and more.... March 15th, 05. (1 Viewer)

Details from the WB Press Release:
-----------------------------------


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE ATTACHED

Warner Home Video Delivers an Easter Basket

Full of Long-Awaited DVD Gems on March 15


EASTER PARADE

Academy Award® Winner

Starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire

and

THE BAND WAGON

Starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse

Both on DVD for the first time in Two-Disc Special Editions Remastered with Warner Bros.’ Proprietary "Ultra-Resolution"

Process and THE BAND WAGON featuring a New Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack

Other Classic Musicals Available For the First Time on DVD Include Broadway Hits Bells are Ringing and Finian's Rainbow plus a Newly Remastered, Widescreen Version of Brigadoon

All five titles also available together in the

"Broadway to Hollywood - Classic Musicals Collection" Gift Set


Burbank, CA., December 17, 2004 – Just in time for the Easter holiday come five fabulous additions to Warner Home Video's Classic Musical Collection led by the much requested Easter Parade and The Band Wagon. Both titles, priced at $26.99 SRP, will be released in Two-Disc Special Editions and have been restored using Warner's proprietary Ultra Resolution process, with The Band Wagon featuring a soundtrack remastered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and original mono. These two wonderful winners are loaded with bonus extras. Easter Parade will contain the exclusive DVD premiere of the critically-acclaimed, three-time Emmy® Award winning PBS American Masters Documentary Judy Garland: By Myself and commentary by Astaire's daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie. The Band Wagon features commentaries by Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein, making of documentaries and musical outtakes. Also new to DVD are Bells are Ringing and Finian's Rainbow, along with a newly remastered version of Brigadoon, all of which are single disc releases priced at $19.97. All five new releases will also be available in a "Broadway to Hollywood - Classic Musicals Collection" gift set, a great consumer value at $59.92 SRP. The street date for all titles is March 15, 2005.




The Ultra-Resolution Process

The Easter Parade and The Band Wagon Two-Disc Special Editions are new additions in the series of releases to undergo Warner Bros. Pictures’ proprietary "Ultra-Resolution" process, giving today’s viewers the most extraordinary presentation with an improved fully remastered picture derived from newly-restored film elements.

Warner Bros. introduced this process with the release of Singin’ in the Rain in the fall of 2002 followed by The Adventures of Robin Hood, Meet Me in St Louis and most recently, Gone with the Wind. More than seventy years after the introduction of Technicolor, Warner Bros. Studios is employing the "Ultra-Resolution" process that begins with scanning the original Technicolor 3-strip black and white ‘records’ at extremely high resolution. The black and white records are then combined electronically to create the color images, which are also electronically re-registered, steadied and cleaned before the final DVDs are produced.

Easter Parade

Starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, Easter Parade is one of the brightest, cheeriest musicals ever made and features 17 Irving Berlin tunes and an Academy Award®-winning adaptation score. Strolling along 5th Avenue or going on the bum as A Couple of Swells Judy Garland and Fred Astaire lead a parade of music and gotta-dance fun (including Astaire's Drum Crazy) in this never-ending delight co-starring Ann Miller (performing a knockout Shaking the Blues Away), and Peter Lawford (gamely crooning The Fella with the Umbrella with Garland). The film is in color with a running time of 103 minutes and is not MPAA rated.

Easter Parade DVD extra content features include:

Disc One:

New Digital Transfer from Restored Picture and Audio Elements
Commentary by Fred Astaire's daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie and Judy Garland biographer John Fricke
Garland Trailer Gallery
Subtitles - English, French and Spanish
Disc Two:

The critically acclaimed, Three-time Emmy Award-winning American Masters Documentary Profile Judy Garland: By Myself (exclusively on DVD only on this release)
Outtake Musical Number Mr. Monotony with Judy Garland
Audio-only Bonus: Radio Promos -- a 1948 promotional interview with Fred Astaire and MGM’s Dick Simmons, plus the ultra-rare Screen Guild Playhouse version of Easter Parade with Fred and Judy from March 1951
All-new making-of documentary Easter Parade: On The Avenue featuring cast and crew interviews
The Band Wagon

In this Vincente Minnelli-directed backstager, Fred Astaire dazzles in numbers set in a train station (By Myself), a penny arcade (A Shine on Your Shoes), a backlot Central Park (Dancing in the Dark) and a smoky café (Girl Hunt), the latter two with the incomparable Cyd Charisse. And when he, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan play infants who "hate each other very much!" in the merry Triplets, it's one more reason to love this movie very, very much. As the hallmark song which originated here goes, That's Entertainment! The film is in color with a running time of 112 minutes and is not MPAA rated.

The Band Wagon DVD extra content features include:

Disc One:

New Digital Transfer from Restored Picture and Audio Elements
Soundtrack Remastered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Original Mono
Commentary by Liza Minnelli (daughter of Vincente Minnelli) and Michael Feinstein
Astaire Trailer Gallery
Subtitles - English, French and Spanish
Disc Two:

New Making-of Documentary Get Aboard! The Band Wagon
In-depth Documentary analysis of the career of director Vincente Minnelli
Outtake Musical Number Two Faced Woman
Rare, Vintage Vitaphone Musical Short Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet

Bells Are Ringing

Judy Holliday reprises her Tony-winning Broadway role of irrepressible switchboard girl Ella in a jubilant adaptation that marked her final movie and the final teaming of movie-musical titans Arthur Freed and Vincente Minnelli. Dean Martin co-stars as a struggling playwright in for a surprise when he learns "Mom's" identity. The sparking Jule Styne/Betty Comden/Adloph Green score includes Holliday's heartfelt The Party's Over and the Judy Holliday/Martin duet Just in Time. The film has been specially remastered for DVD and is presented in 16x9 Widescreen version with 5.1 audio, in color with a running time of 126 minutes and is not MPAA rated.

Bells Are Ringing DVD extra content features include:

Soundtrack Remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
New Featurette Bells Are Ringing: The Party's Over
Outtake Musical Numbers Is It a Crime, My Guiding Star and alternate takes of The Midas Touch
Theatrical Trailer
Languages: English & French
Subtitles - English, French and Spanish

Brigadoon

Look on a map and you won't find it. Look in your heart and there it will be. Enchantment is a place - and a movie - called Brigadoon with Gene Kelly stars in and choreographs a lyrical film adaptation of the 1947 Broadway musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe (My Fair Lady, Camelot). Vincente Minnelli directs this otherworldly tale of vacationing New Yorkers (Kelly and Van Johnson) who discover a Scottish village that comes to life one every 100 years for one day only. There, Kelly and a town lass (Cyd Charisse) share the love of a lifetime - one seemingly allotted just 24 hours. But fear not, there's magic and timeless songs hereabouts -- Almost Like Being in Love, The Heather on the Hill and more! The film is newly remastered in 16X9 anamorphic format and 5.1 audio and is in color with a running time of 108 minutes (no MPAA rating).

Brigadoon DVD extra content features include:

First-ever New Digital 16x9 Transfer (2:55:1)
Soundtrack Remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
Three Outtake Musical Numbers: Come to Me, Bend to Me, From this Day On and Sword Dance
Audio Outtake: There But for You Go I
Theatrical Trailer
Languages: English & French
Subtitles - English, French and Spanish
Finian's Rainbow

He wears a ratty old cardigan instead of tails, a battered felt hat in place of a topper - but one glimpse of those agile feet and you know he's Fred Astaire. The great entertainer sang and danced his last musical lead in Finian's Rainbow, director Francis Ford Coppola's exuberant movie of the 1947 Broadway hit. Astaire plays an Irish rogue who plants a stolen crock of leprechaun gold in the soil near Fort Knox to reap what he thinks will be a rich harvest. In tow are his spirited daughter (Petula Clark), a lovestruck leprechaun (Tommy Steele) and a bigoted Southern senator (KeenanWynn) transformed by misbegotten magic. The treasurable Burton Lane/E.Y. Harburg score includes How are Things in Glocca Morra?, Look to the Rainbow, If This Isn't Love and Old Devil Moon. The film is presented in 16x9 Widescreen anamorphic format with 5.1 digital audio, is in color with a running time of 145 minutes and is not MPAA rated.

Finian's Rainbow DVD extra content features include:

New Introduction and Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola
Soundtrack Remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
Featurette The World Premiere of Finian's Rainbow
Theatrical Trailer
Languages: English & French
Subtitles - English, French and Spanish
Broadway to Hollywood Classic Musicals Collection

$59.92 SRP (Boxed set)

$26.99 SRP/$19.95 MAP (Per Two-Disc DVD title)

$19.97 SRP/$14.95 MAP (Per single DVD title)

Street date: March 15 2005



Easter Parade Two-Disc Special Edition

Catalog #: 67072

Color

Not Rated

Run Time:103 minutes


The Band Wagon Two-Disc Special Edition

Catalog #: 66984

Color

Not Rated

Run Time: 112 minutes



Bells Are Ringing

Catalog #: 65913

Color

Not Rated

Run Time: 127 minutes


Finian's Rainbow

Catalog #: 11208

Color

Not Rated

Run Time: 145 minutes


Brigadoon

Catalog #: 67239

Color

Not Rated

Run Time: 108 minutes

WOW! Amazing News!

OUTTAKES from Brigadoon -- the CUT songs!!

I'm am just kissing the ground under the feet of George Feltenstein right now.

It's ludicrous how utterly amazing WB is treating their classics. Puts most everyone, save for Criterion, to shame.

Thanks Herb, for posting the details.

The other night I caught Brigadoon in High Definition and in its OAR on Showtime. Never saw it in such a pristine condition. The DVD is probably from the same master.

Finians Rainbow will be a definite first time DVD purchase. Hope they do it right.

Easter Parade sounds great, and the others - well, not personally remembering them, I'll have to read more future comments here to make the choice to rent or buy.

Paul

Herb, I'm speechless...and my wallet's groaning already. Wow, March is looking fantastic for classic film fans.

Sweet! I've been looking forward to Easter Parade and Band Wagon since WB announced they'd be coming in '05, in their HTF chat from almost a year ago now. I didn't know they'd be coming this soon, but naturally it makes sense that they'd tie in Easter Parade with that particular holiday.

Paul, The Band Wagon is an awesome movie, hilarious script (Comden and Green's follow-up to Singin' in the Rain), and worth it just for the two most famous dance sequences alone: Dancing in the Dark with Astaire and Charisse, and the Girl Hunt Ballet with tons of people. That and Easter Parade are no-brainers for me. I've never seen the others before, but with the box set likely available for no more than around $40 on-line, it hardly makes sense not to buy the whole thing if you're definitely getting at least two of them. I'm sure I'll go in for the whole box set.

I hope Warners still has plans to do It's Always Fair Weather, which they said would be coming sometime in '05, in the previously mentioned HTF chat from early '04. They also said to look for a 2-disc Ultra-Resolution SE of An American in Paris sometime in '06 (can't wait for that one).

I just looked up Bells Are Ringing on IMDB, since I know very little about it. Now, I gather from everything that it's a musical comedy, not surprising from the principle cast and crew involved. So why does the bottom of its IMDB entry say:


Huh?! How do you go from one to the other? I just checked their listing for The Band Wagon, no recommendation for Chinatown there...

I've seen several of these titles on TCM, but I'll certainly be adding the box set to my collection. Five classic musicals, including several remasters in the "Ultra Resolution" process for a box-set price of $60. Count me in!

This collection isn't listed yet on the DV2 web page, but I'm sure they'll have it for around $36, since they sell everything for 40% or more off list price. I'll have to remember to look again in a few weeks or so. Looking forward to March!

Steve K.

LOL Haggai!

I just recorded Bells are Ringing off of TCM this week, and we watched it last night. As a record of a Broadway show for which Judy Holliday won the TONY award beating Julie Andrews, it's quite beautifully done, and Judy herself is hilarious and touching.

It was made just as musicals were becoming...unhip, and one can see why. It's just a little bit static and old-fashioned. Right up my alley.

Wow! After jsut finishing watching the "That's Entertainmnet! collection" Last week, this is great news! Looks like another Warners boxset is going on my shelf in 2005. Jan is Gangsters, March musicals, What's February bringing?

Chariots of Fire: Special Edition
The Life of Emile Zola
The Broadway Melody
The Notebook
Malcolm X - 2 Disc SE

A few from memory...

In classics alone for February I've got listed:

We Were Strangers, Bitter Victory, Twentieth Century, My Sister Eileen, It Happened to Jane, Chariots of Fire SE, The Life of Emile Zola, The Broadway Melody, The Best Picture Oscar Drama pack, The Best Picture Oscar Musical pack, The Best Picture Oscar Adventure pack, The Cat and the Canary (1927), All in a Night's Work, Hello Down There, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Reivers, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Thunderhead: Son of Flicka, Agony And The Ecstasy, Satan Never Sleeps. Francis Of Assisi, Martin Scorsese Collection, Night and the City, Thieves' Highway, Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster, La Commare Secca, Hercules the Avenger/Hercules and the Black Pirate, Magic Voyage of Sinbad/The Day the Earth Froze, Valley of Fire, The Palm Beach Story, A Letter to Three Wives, Return to Peyton Place, Leave Her to Heaven, Funny Girl / Funny Lady, Barbra Streisand Box Set, Zorro; The Gay Blade, Behold a Pale Horse, Strangers When We Meet, Monkey on My Back.

...to name but a few!

SENSATIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We knew some of these titles were coming, but when and how....Astounding!

Ultra-rez on EASTER PARADE and BAND WAGON? Amazing

OUTTAKES
DOCUS
EXTRAS GALORE


Only the WB people seem to get it

Thanks Haggai, looks like I just may get the box set.
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever = February 22, 2005

Paul

(Edit: John Hodson's post beat me by five minutes.)

This is indeed fabulous news. "Band Wagon" and "Bells Are Ringing" have been at the top of my wish list since I got my first DVD player. IMHO, Fred Astaire and Judy Holliday at their best. Susanswerphone, here we come!

GREAT NEWS! The Band Wagon is one of my faves, though the commentary sounds less than exciting (Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein?). But it's the movie that's most important, so I don't really care.

I must re-iterate Haggai's comments, bring on It's Always Fair Weather!

John... I was just thinking WB releases. I'm depressed now after looking at your list... a good depressed however.

Superb news indeed and I am particularly interested in Finian's Rainbow

I seem to recall that George Lucas worked on one of those promotional films for FINIAN'S RAINBOW that CBS used as filler for their prime time movie showings. He was a student at the time and this was when he first met Coppola. I heard a rumor that he pitched a concept of updating Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" to Coppola that much later became the genesis of APOCALYPSE NOW. I wonder if that CBS featurette still exists?